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Virgin Blue To Launch Direct Canberra – Gold Coast Service

Virgin Blue today announced the addition of yet another direct route to its rapidly expanding network, with non stop flights between Canberra and the Gold Coast.

The brand new weekly service will operate on Saturdays from September 6 and will further boost tourism while giving travellers more low fare options in both directions.

In celebration of the new service, a special one-way launch fare of $69* is being offered for sale from now until 18 August, for travel from 6 September to 20 September 2003.

Virgin Blue’s everyday low fares will start from $139* one way on the net with a Fully Flexible walk-up fare of $310* one way, 31% less than the $452 walk-up fare the competition has been demanding from the travelling public until now.

The Saturday evening flight DJ 893 will depart Canberra at 5.45pm, arriving into Coolangatta at 7.25pm before turning around and going back to Canberra as flight DJ 892 for a 9.25pm arrival.

David Huttner, Head of Communication and Strategy, said, “Even though we are still not having much luck with the Commonwealth travel market, we have still had tremendous support from the people of Canberra and we want to say thanks by offering more convenient direct destinations for their holidays.”

He added, “We’ve had huge demand for more direct services to Gold Coast and Northern New South Wales and if this flight fills up, we will certainly add more services.”

The new Canberra - Gold Coast service comes hot on the heels of Virgin Blue’s recent announcement to launch direct flights between Adelaide and the ACT.

Due to the early delivery of more brand new aircraft, flights between Canberra and the South Australian capital have been bought forward four weeks with the service now due to launch on 5 September.

The first flight to Adelaide will depart Canberra as flight DJ 949 at 5.45pm, arriving into Adelaide at 7.00pm. The return Adelaide – Canberra flight DJ940 will depart at 6.20am the following morning for a 8.25am arrival into the ACT.

Virgin Blue currently serves approximately 30% of the domestic market and is keen to continue expanding to make sure it keeps the competition honest and the fares low on as many routes as possible.

* All fares include the passenger ticket levy, airport charges and the global security charge and are for flights booked on the Internet. $10 more by phone. The $69 launch fare offer is on sale from 8 August until 18 August and flights are for travel from 6 to 20 September 2003. Fares are subject to availability and may not be available on all flights or peak days.